PhRMA said to be donating $1m to Trump inauguration

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) trade body is donating $1 million to fund President-elect Donald Trump's second inauguration in what looks set to be a record-breaking fundraising, according to media reports.

The Wall Street Journal and other publications have identified more than a dozen companies and organisations that have pledged financial support for the inauguration – due to take place on Monday 20th January – pointing out that the list includes some that said they would withhold support from those who disputed the result of the 2020 election around the invasion of the US Capitol in early 2021.

That includes the PhRMA, which said at the time of the civil unrest that it "violate[d] the values of our nation and the values held by America's biopharmaceutical research companies" and said it would pause funding for any lawmaker voting to reject the outcome of the election.

"As corporate executives hurry to make inroads with an incoming president whose agenda will have sweeping ramifications for the business world, many of those pledges are a thing of the past," notes the WSJ.

It is also the first time in at least a decade that the PhRMA has agreed to provide an inauguration donation, which isn't covered by normal campaign finance laws in the US, and indicates the group wants to make sure it has a seat at the table as Trump's second administration starts building policy.

There has been a lot of speculation about the ramifications of a second Trump term for the pharma industry, all the more so because neither he nor election opponent Kamala Harris spelled out much in the way of policy on the campaign trial. However, with bipartisan support in areas like drug pricing controls and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform there could be much at stake for the sector.

Estimates are that the second Trump inaugural committee will raise more than $150 million, trouncing the previous record of $107 million set by Trump at the start of his first term in office.

Other big donors to the 2025 inauguration are reported to include Amazon, Meta, Charter Communications, Ford, Toyota, Intuit, General Motors, Bank of America, AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Stanley Black & Decker, Uber, cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.